Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-04-04
MYSTERIOUS MURDERS.
The Increase of These Crimes in
New York Exciting alarm.


York of late is exciting general attention
as we'll as no little alarm. In these dark
and unfathomable crimes, dOubly hldeous
and repulsive by their mystery, women
seem to be peculiarly unfortunate. A re-
spectacle school teacher OF Brooklyn Is
found with her skull fractured in a door
way in the New Bowery, region which,
compared to church-going, God-fearlng
homes, is as the blacklist depths of
Hades to the innocent pastures
| of Paradise. There is really no
clue to this fearful and I'M
speakable outrage. Our civilization IS
still down in the trough of the sea OF time
and not on its topmost wave. The beautiful
girl with blue eyes and brown hair found
outraged and murdered near Railway, at
no great distance from New York, seems
| a blank enigma for the law to puzzle over
and perhaps never solve. Such occur
rences are comparatively rare in great
| cities, for reasons which officers or the
law could readily explain. A certain
| great evil OF large cities protects respect
able women. Crimes of this nature are
| for reasons well Understood more frequent
| in the country.
| 1t is supposed that in New York at
least one lite is taken daily. The num-
| Der of persons arrested for murder or
manslaughter is small, probably not eX-
| ceedlng fifty in q year. Few OF those
arrested are punished at all, and fewer
| still are hanged. An enormous increase
In crime In this country has come with
| the increase IN population. AS New
| York has grown murder has increased
in greater ratio than the population.
There is a certain foreign element here
that values human life about as much as
| a straw. And many if not most OF these
crimes are covered as witha red Makanna
veil of impenetrable mystery. The most
common method OF killing is with
the knife. Many of the roughs
carry something Of the nature OF
dagger. If they strike In the right place
| life is soon extinct; the deed is silent and
| either unobserved or seen only by other
| criminals, perhaps murdereIs themselves.
| The revolver removes many, especially in
barroom affairs. The s1ung shots and
the sand bags are not so much used as
they were twenty years ago, as it has
been made State prison otfense to have
| one in possession. Poison Is often used
The late DIR. Mosher, Surgeon General OF
this State, declared that the number Of
persons murdered by poison was far
| greater than was generally suspected.
Poisoning is generally done by relatives
| having a grudge or anxious to inherit
property, but it is also used in the
dives of New York for the purpose both
Of murder and robbery. 1t is a
intoxicated to be robbed and murdered
In some dark street close to the water
| front, and then it is easy to throw the
body into the black river that could tell
| such a thrilling story OF sorrow and
crime had it any other voice than the
plash of it's salt waves against the wooden
piers. Formerly there were number of
places IN Water, Houston and Blocker
| streets where drugged glass Of whisky
was deXterously substituted for the liquor
| ordered and the drinker was soon rem
dered insensible. Opium in its various
| forms was used, laudanum more especial
| "; choral and other drugs were so many
! agents Of science to assist crime. After
| a man was pretty we'll intoxicated it was
easy, moreover, for one of the lost girls OF
the bagnio to apply a handkerchief satI-
rated with chloroform to the face OF the
victim. Men in these unspeakable re.
sorts have detected poison on slightly
| tasting the liquor and have Immediately
| left in safety.
But have referred to the mystery OF
| crime in New York. 1t is commonly sup
| posed that most of the murderers are ar
rested and punished either by death or
Imprisonment. 1t is mistake. The list
| of murders which have never been clearly
brought home to the criminal would be
| altogether too long to enumerate here.
| One of the most celebrated was the Ber-
| dell murder IN Bond street IN 1855. Dr.
| Berdell was a dentist with a large and
fashionable practice. He had house
keeper, Mrs. Cunningham, who was al
lowed to keep boarders. The doctor was
| a man of property. One morning when
the servant Knocked at his door there was
! no response. The door was forced open
| and he was found murdered. When the
murder became known to the house.
hold Mrs. Cunningham shrieked:
"He was my husband" She de-
clared that they had been married for sew
eral weeks. She was in middle life, tall
and handsome. The police did not be-
lieve her statement. They found, how
ever. that she had been married in Herki-
| mer county, of this state, to person who
| gave the name of Berdell, and VINO is be-
| lieved to have persOnated him. The trial
| revealed nameless degree of moral rot
| tenness in this household, involving the
| two.daughters of the housekeeper and two
OF the boarders. A. Oakley Hall, then
district attorney, instituted searching
| investigation. A new complication was
added by the declaration of Mrs.Cunning-
| ham that she was enceInte by ner So
called husband, the doctor. The district
attorney apparently paid no attention to
| this statement, but when the time came
for confinement he managed to place two
nurses in the city's employ close to the
| euSptCNtu NOIldus ~ Ou6 vi SueSe BDe
suggested the procuring OF child.
The nurse acquesced, and a newly
born child having been smuggled
into the bed, Mrs. Cunningham an
nounced that her child had been born
without medical assistance. An eXami-
nation Of physicians proved that she had
not been confined. Her bold and ingeni-
Gus plot failed. She and two alleged ac-
completes were tried for murder, but
there was no absolute proof, and after a
long and tedious trial they were acquit-
ted. She changed her name and removed
from one place to another, and finally set
tied in California, where she is supposed
to be still living. One of the alleged ac-
completes died some years a ter the TRACE
dy; the other, the son OF a clergyman,
was acquitted by public opinion.
! The theory OF the prosecution was
that Mrs. Cunningham and an accom-
| plice went through the form OF mar
| riage under the name OF Berdell,
and then having this on the records,
murdered the doctor to get possession OF
his property. Another mysterious case
was the Rogers murder about fifteen years
ago. He was shOveling snow from his
doorstep at O'Clock in the morning. A
man stepped up and killed him. He has
never been arrested. The murder Of Ma